The Attractive Female Body Weight and Female Body Dissatisfaction in 26 Countries Across 10 World Regions: Results of the International Body Project I

By Viren Swami, David A. Frederick, T. Aavik, Lidia Alcalay, Jüri Allik, Donna Anderson, Sonny Andrianto, A. Arora, Å. Brännström, J. Cunningham and 51 more. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2010

720 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study reports results from the first International Body Project (IBP-I), which surveyed 7,434 individuals in 10 major world regions about body weight ideals and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the female Contour Drawing Figure Rating Scale (CDFRS) and self-reported their exposure to Western and local media. Results indicated there were significant cross-regional differences in the ideal female figure and body dissatisfaction, but effect sizes were small across high-socioeconomic-status (SES) sites. Within cultures, heavier bodies were preferred in low-SES sites compared to high-SES sites in Malaysia and South Africa (ds = 1.94-2.49) but not in Austria. Participant age, body mass index (BMI), and Western media exposure predicted body weight ideals. BMI and Western media exposure predicted body dissatisfaction among women. Our results show that body dissatisfaction and desire for thinness is commonplace in high-SES settings across world regions, highlighting the need for international attention to this problem.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4126b6f840d09ec5c6614a3081ba006d80dc7d91

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Citations in the corpus

Mating markets and bargaining hands: Mate preferences for attractiveness and resources in two national U.S. studies (2016, background): “Men's preferences for body fat levels in women vary substantially across cultures, with relative thinness being considered most attractive in most industrialized countries (Frederick, Forbes, & Berezovskaya, 2008; Gray & Frederick, 2012; Swami et al., 2010).”
The Internet and Adolescent Girls’ Weight Satisfaction and Drive for Thinness (2010, background): “Further, a recent large cross-cultural survey of body image ideals across 26 countries found little difference in ratings of ideal female figure or body dissatisfaction across the different Western countries (Swami et al. 2010).”
The Science of Sex Appeal: An Evolutionary Perspective (2010, background): “In parts of Africa and the South Pacific adolescents from elite families reside in “milking huts,” where they are fed high-fat diets in order to become properly plump in preparation for marriage (see Swami et al., 2010).”
The Role of Friends and Peers in Adolescent Body Dissatisfaction: A Review and Critique of 15 Years of Research (2014, background): “Although ethnicity is addressed in this review, our focus on Western populations is due to the documented cross-cultural differences in body dissatisfaction and related constructs (Jung & Lee, 2006; Swami et al., 2010), which are beyond the scope of this article.”
Who is The Fairest One of All? How Evolution Guides Peer and Media Influences on Female Body Dissatisfaction (2011, background): “Even greater variation may be seen in cultures in which food resources are scarce (Cashdan, 2008), and some cultures may appreciate female bodies that would be considered “obese” in Western cultures (Swami et al., 2010).”